John thomas way



UNITED i-STATES PATENT OFFICE, y

JoHNrHoMAs WAY, oF WELBECK' sTEEET, COUNTY oE MIDDLESEX,

Y ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT lN ELECTRIC LIGHTS Specification forming partof Letters Patent No. 33,457, dated October 8, 1861.

To all whom 'it mol/y concern,- v Be it known that I, J oHN THOMAS WAY', of Welbeck Street, in the county of Middlesex, in the. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin'Obtaining Light by Electricity; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanyingdrawing, forming part of this specification, said drawing representing a vertical section of an electric lamp. o

Heretofore in obtaining light by electricity electrodes of charcoal have usually been eml ployed, and motion has been given to such electrodes by means of clock-work or magnets, or both combined, so as to change their acting points as they are consumed; but even with the best means yet employed for this purpose it is diicult, it'- not impossible, to obtain a constant light, and this defect is espe cially objectionable in the case of light-houses and in other circumstances where lenses are used, as the path of the rays of light is coni tinually changing, and the distance to which they penetrate will greatly vary from time to time. The mechanical arrangements of electric lamps with charcoal electrodes are` also'of adelicate and complicated character, and very liable to get outof order, and cannot be readily repaired by workmen of lordinary intelligence. The object of my invention 'is to obviate the above-mentioned difficulties and objections; and to this end it consists, first, in the usefor one of the electrodes of a stream of mercury or other sui-table conducting material capable Aof iiowing, in combination with apparatus for regulating the distance apart ot the twoelec` ftrodes, 'such -niaterial'being caused -to flow through an orifice' upon the surface of the conducting material which constitutes the second electrode, and the said orifice andthe second electrode being so'adjusted relatively to i each other that the surface ot' the second electrode is situated at a point wherethe separation of the particlesof the stream commences, as hereinafter described.

' The invention consists, secondly, in the use for the second electrode, in combination with the flowing electrode, of a small overflowing cup or regulated surface of mercury or other suitable material similar to that of whichl the flowing electrode is composed, the said material' being received from the flowing electrode within the said cup or upon the said surface,

and falling therefrom into a suitable receptacle,-

fr'om whence it may be returned to the receiver or cistern from which the owing' electrode is supplied.

To enable others to` apply my invention to A is a cistern, of iron, glass, slate, or other. suitable material, from which mercury is con` veyed by apipe, a b, fit-ted with a stop-cock, d, to a jet, c, made of infusible clay or otherl vmaterial capable of bearing great heat, and having as small an orifice as can Ahe conveniently made, from which the mercury will iiow in al constant stream, which constitutes the flowing electrode.

The necessary pressure is obtained by placing the cistern at some distance above the orice ot' the jet fronrwhich the mercury issues. I prefer a height of from six to twenty-four inches; but this height will depend upon the isize of the conducting-tube, the size ot' the oriiiice of the jet, the strength of the electric curren t, and other circumstances. I therefore arrange the cistern in such a manner upon its' 4 support B that its height above the jet maybe increased' or diminished at pleasure, and to ,permit this the portion a of the .pipe a b is.

imade of india-rubber or other iexible mate- Irial.y The necessary pressure might be .ob- 'tained by mechanical means.

Ihe portion b of -the pipe is madleofiron, and in the example of my invention repre sented in the drawing is made of goose-neck form to give the jet a downward direction, the electrodes being inclosed within a glass bellshade, C, supported on and secured air-tight to an iron plate, l), through which the pipe b passes, and in which it is secured. I propose, however, in some cases to use, in place of theV bell-shade, an upright glass cylinder, fitted at top and bottom with plates ofl iron cemented to it air-tight, and to have the mercury-pipe enter the said cylinder through the top plate. I also propose to use as a substitute for glass a lantern-like frame havingsheets of mica titted "-n'au air-tight manner.-

in bearings attached to thebottom of the plate D,said rack and pinion constituting the means of adjusting the distance between the electrodes. l

The cup E maybe made of any diameter and depth; but the size I prefer is of about from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and one-quarter of aninch to threeeighths of an inch in depth. l.This cup is made with a long stem, h, of clay, which is cemented into the tube Gr, and which also serves to insulate from the plate D both the mercury in the cupl and the conductingwire t', which forms the communication between the said mercury and one pole (preferably the negative pole) of the battery, the wire forming the positive pole be ing in connectionlwith the mercury flowing to the jet c.

When the glass cylinder with iron top and bottom plates is used instead of the bellglass thejet-tube enteringthecylinder through the top plate is insulated from the mercury in the cup E by the glass cylinder itself, and insulation of the said mercury from the bottom plate, 1), becomes unnecessary,-and hence in that case the mercury-cup E maybe made of iron.

The plate D is tted with a pipe, H, for the escape to a suitable receptacle below of the mercury which overflows from the cup E onto the said plate.

The chamber formed within the bell-glass C, or glass cylinder,mustbe perfectly tight against the escape of mercurial vapor.

The mercury collected from the pipe H may be returned to the cistern .A by means of pumps, revolving buckets, or other devices, and the power of the battery may, by the use of well-known electro-magnetic machines, be. employed for this purpose.

-It is not absolutely necessary to the success vot' my invention, though I prefer that the overflowing cup or surface of mercury be '.:sed

as the second electrode, as a pencil of charcoal may be employed, said pencil being held by a rod or tube working through a suitable opening' in the plate D, and the said rod or tube having applied to it a traveling screw, a rack andL pinion, a spring, or any other device for feeding the said pencil toward the jet c as fast as it Iis consumed, such device being adjustable by hand, or operating automatically.

Having 'explained the nature of my invention and the apparatus by which itis carried into practice, I will now explain the-principle upon which the iiowin gelectrode operates.

It is well known that whenV a current of electricity is made to pass through a conductor, such as a thin wire of metal-i, which is insuiiicient in conducting power to allow of the ready passage of the electricity, heat is' generated; and if the current be'powerful the conductor becomes red or white hot. The small stream of mercury issuing` from the jet c has the character of aline wire. Now, it will be found` on examination that ata distance from the orifice of the jet dependent upon the force with which the stream is made to issue and the size of the stream, the dark metallic appearance ofthe mercury changes to asilvery hue, owing to a partial separation of the particles from each other. At about this'fpoint the greatest resistance to the passage of the electricity occurs,'and at this pointL theulight will he ob. tained. f y

I have spoken of the use of other substances than mercury for the ilowin g electrode. I have contemplated the use of powdered charcoal, the filings of iron or other metal, and of fusible metal kept liquid by heat; but in the use of fusible metal. in order to avoid the rapid4 oxidation ofthe metal, the case in which the light is exhibited should be kept full of carbonic acid or other suitable gas, to exclude the air, and for these reasons and' others I consider it better to use mercury.

Other metals, as strontium or bismutlimay be mixed wjth the mercury to give di ereut colors to the light obtained.

I do not claim, broadly, the employment of a stream of mercury as au electrode in apparatus for obtaining' light by electricity; neither do I claim the adjusting ofv an electrode by mechanical means,when separately considered;

but,

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The use of a owiug electrode of mercury or other suitable conducting material, in combination with apparatus for regulatiu g the distance apart of the two electrodes, substantially as herein described.

2. The combination of an overiowing cup or regulated surface of mercury -as a second electrode with a flowing electrode of mercury in apparatus -for obtaining light by electricity, substantially as and forthe purpose herein set forth.

J. THOMAS WAY. Witnesses:

L. W. BENDR, A. POHLEBS. 

